Harvard art is on the move

When the doors of the Fogg Museum in Cambridge close to the public on June 30, they won’t open again until 2013.

Francis Ma

When the doors of the Fogg Museum in Cambridge close to the public on June 30, they won’t open again until 2013.

But the five-year sabbatical is for a good cause — the Harvard museum will undergo structural renovations that are 50 years overdue. Among the highest priorities: the air-conditioning and plumbing, in addition to an electrical system that pre-dates the FDR administration.

The plan also includes a bigger and longer-range goal — to add a complementary arts complex across the Charles River in Allston.

But right now the priority is the Fogg.

“Our climate control problem is a source of deep embarrassment and shame for us,” says Museum Director Thomas Lentz. “All of the systems in the building have to be updated.”

How bad is it? The electric and plumbing systems haven’t been overhauled since the museum was built in 1927.

In order to rectify this, the Harvard art collection from all three museums — the Fogg, the Bush-Reisinger and the Sackler — will be consolidated after the museum closes on June 30.

Most of it will end up in storage while a “representative overview” called “Re-View” will be on display when the Sackler reopens on Sept. 13. (The Sackler will also be closed this summer for the reorganization.) Harvard hope that all three museums will reopen at full capacity in 2013.

The proposal for the Allston location is to have a building of contemporary art (though not solely about contemporary art) that will have a dual relationship with Harvard University and the local community. It’s scheduled to break ground some time next year.

The Allston location would give Harvard the opportunity to embrace more contemporary art, a medium that has never had a home at the Fogg.

“We will never have the space that we need here,” says Lentz. “Allston will be a place where we can do things we never could.”

The idea of extending Harvard University into Allston was first hatched in 2003. Along the way, Allston residents have questioned whether or not it was going forward and whether having Harvard in Allston would be a good idea.

“I think some people assumed that the delay of the museum meant that Allston was off the table,” adds Harvard’s Director of Communications Daron Manoogian. “That has never been the case.”

Priorities simply changed. Instead of focusing on the new art museum in Allston, the university decided to turn its attention to the much-needed renovations of the Fogg. This change in thinking came mostly from Harvard’s new president, Drew G. Faust, who was appointed in February 2007.

“With Faust, it feels like the arts are a real priority,” says Manoogian. “She recognizes the possibility for a Harvard-Allston community. I think, in the past, the Allston community felt overwhelmed, especially with having to approve two buildings (a science complex and the art museum) at once.”

To help alleviate past confusion, President Faust set up a Task Force for the Arts in November of last year with the job of determining how the arts at Harvard can be implemented into other areas of study, as well as to consider what type of physical building would be needed in the future.

But for some Allston residents, it’s hard to forget the confusion of past meetings and business plans and some say there still isn’t enough communication between the community and the university.

Harry Mattison, Allston resident since 1994 and part of the Harvard-Allston Task Force, has been involved with this issue from the start.

“Some people don’t feel like Harvard and Allston are in this together,” says Mattison. “We’re also concerned about what it would be like to have Harvard as a neighbor.”

The Task Force meets regularly at the Honan-Allston Branch Library with representatives from Harvard University and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA).This fall they will be discussing the Master Plan for Allston, which includes the proposed art museum.

So far, the meetings have addressed general concerns.

At a recent meeting, Mattison passionately voiced his concern that the neighborhood would be changing and asked whether or not Harvard knew what the new neighborhood would look like.

“Does Harvard know who will be moving into Allston? And what their needs will be?” asked Mattison.

It’s a valid question that wasn’t answered with any specifics.

Kathy Spiegelman, chief planner for the Harvard University Allston Initiative, regularly attends these meetings (which are staffed by the BRA), and she takes these concerns seriously.

“I think the challenge of this project has been how to make the edges soft,” says Spiegelman. “We want the structures to be inviting to the members of the local community.”

And now that President Faust has pushed the renovation of the Fogg as a priority, it allows Spiegelman and the Allston community to figure out exactly what the new art complex could, and should, provide.

Meanwhile, the Fogg braces for a big transition. Helen Molesworth, head of the department of modern and contemporary art, says the feeling within the walls is a sad one, and that no one wants to see the museum close.

“Most people who work in museums want to share that love of art with other people,” says Molesworth. “None of us want to pack up and close our doors. But we have a broken thing and we need to fix it.”

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